Eritrea's wretched independence

The country's 30-year war with Ethiopia has been followed by 21 years of repression, says Saleh 'Gadi' Johar.

Successful liberation armies seem
to follow the same formula: long,
entrenched warfare that appears
hopeless to all but those who believe
in it, followed by a long period of
maladministration which is predictable
by all but those who believe in it.

Eritrea is no exception. A 30-year
armed struggle against larger and
more powerful Ethiopia succeeds
against the odds; it is followed by 21
years – and counting – of repression.

On 24 May 1991, Eritreans were
overwhelmed by the euphoria of
independence. They didn’t realize
that the end of Ethiopian military
rule was simply ushering in Eritrean
military rule by the People’s Front for
Democracy and Justice.

It didn’t take long for the new
regime to show its true face. It began
by persecuting Jehovah’s Witnesses
and Pentecostals, who were beaten
and stripped of citizenship. Bearded
Muslims were accused of being Jihadis
and jailed. Anyone who fell out of
favour was branded a ‘fifth columnist’.

Within four years, the Eritrean
regime – presided over by liberation
hero Isaias Afewerki – declared that all
students of high school age must enlist
for ‘National Service’ for 18 months.
As the new regime embroiled the
citizenry in one military conflict after
another – four so far – the catchment
expanded to all able-bodied persons,
for an indefinite period.

Advert

The line between education and
indoctrination was soon blurred: the
country’s only university was closed
and boot camps and high schools
merged into one.

The military also took control
of the whole sphere of public
administration, including the Special
Courts, which tried, convicted and
sentenced ‘violators’ without due
process. And those were the lucky
ones who got a day in court; many
‘suspects’ simply disappeared.

Army commanders formed their
own private hearings and prison
system and tried, jailed or executed
young people for trivial violations.

A free press that blossomed in 2000
lasted only one year, then all private
media was shut down, their editors and
reporters jailed. Some died in prison;
others ‘disappeared’. The lucky ones
escaped the purge and fled the country.

Such violations go unnoticed because
of the secretive nature of the regime. To
this day, no-one even knows the size of
the population of Eritrea, said to range
between 2.5 and 5 million.

After 21 years of independence,
Eritreans are living the life they fought
for 30 years to avoid: no freedom of
expression, no freedom of assembly, no
elections, no religious freedom, and
no rule of law. Eritrea is a police state
where the cynics and pessimists of the
world can find justification in their
belief that the bad is often replaced by
the worse. And this belief, ironically,
is the repressive regime’s strongest
weapon. The fighting spirit has waned
and Eritrea is now best known as
somewhere to flee from: it is one of the
top-10 refugee-producing countries in
the world.